The Pros And Cons Of Torture

Torture has been around since the dawn ages, being used by the CIA, FBI, terrorists, and the Romans. Torture is not a good way to extract reliable information. Torture is not a good idea because the human memory is inaccurate, and the one being tortured is stressed out so much that their memories can be wiped out. Torture has many definitions. Torture can be defined as, “the action or practice of inflicting severe pain on someone as a punishment or to force them to do or say something, or for the pleasure of the person inflicting the pain,” ("Torture" Google. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 May 2016). Torture has been around for centuries and it includes, “...punishment, revenge, political re-education, deterrence, interrogation or coercion of the victim,

In the New York Times, about the use of torture, it says,“The Bush administration said that the capture of Abu Zubaydah and his subsequent interrogation, which included waterboarding, led to the capture of Mr. bin al-Shibh, another senior Qaeda operative. A senior C.I.A. official told Congress that Abu Zubaydah “led us to Ramzi bin al-Shibh.Mr. Bush credited the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah and Mr. bin al-Shibh with providing “information that helped in the planning and execution of the operation that captured Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.” The C.I.A. also credited its interrogation of Abu Zubaydah with revealing Mr. Mohammed as the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks.It was Abu Zubaydah, early in his detention, who identified K.S.M. as the mastermind of 9/11,” Michael Hayden, director of the C.I.A., told Congress. Until that time, K.S.M. did not even appear in our charge of key Al Qaeda members and associates.Contrary to CIA representations, there are no CIA records to support the assertion that Abu Zubaydah, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, or any other CIA detainee played any role in the ‘the planning and execution of the operation that captured,”("The Senate Committee’s Report on the C.I.A.’s Use of Torture." The New York Times. The New York Times, 08 Dec. 2014. Web. 13 Apr. 2016). The CIA use of torture wasn't a good idea because there was no evidence nor supporting details about the attack. So the CIA was lying. Also, they

“Brain imaging in persons previously subjected to severe torture suggests that abnormal patterns of activation are present in the frontal and temporal lobes, leading to deficits in verbal memory for the recall of traumatic events. A recent meta-analysis of the relationship between pharmacologically-induced cortisol elevations (in the upper physiological range) concludes that it impairs memory retrieval in humans, as do psychosocial stress-induced cortisol elevations. On the other hand, mildly stressful events generally facilitate recall. The experience of capture, transport, and subsequent challenging questioning would seem to be more than enough in making suspects reveal information,”("Torture Can't Provide Good Information, Argues Neuroscientist." Science. N.p., 21 Sept. 2009. Web. 20 Apr. 2016). Torturing someone can give you unreliable information but questioning them can help you out. So why do we torture someone if it doesn't work? Talking to them seems to work well. Torturing someone for information is very useless and is not a good idea. It's better to have a